Policy and Practice in Fascist

Germany 1933 - 1941

Working Towards the Fuhrer
Working Towards the Fuhrer
Very often, and in many places, it has been the
case that individuals, already in previous years,
have waited for commands and orders.
Unfortunately, that will probably also be so in
future. Rather, however, it is the duty of every
single person to attempt, in the spirit of the Fuhrer,
to work towards him. Anyone making mistakes will
come to notice it soon enough. But the one who
works correctly towards the Fuhrer along his lines
and towards his aim will in future as previously
have the finest reward of one day suddenly
attaining the legal confirmation of his work
Werner Willikens Prussian State Secretary of
Agriculture
Hitlers Style of Government
Emergency powers of Enabling Act meant that Hitler
had to sign laws into being
Access to Hitler crucial
Bureaucratic competition
Hitler liked the Darwinist competitive element and felt that it
made for better laws
Radicalisation of Fascist program as years passed
Foreign Affairs Preference
Liked to Appear Above Domestic squabbling
Gleichschaltung
Co-ordination of State Control
Diagram page 188 of Hite, Hinton

Hitlers Lackadaisical Style
Hitler alone made all the important decisions
he never involved himself in details and let other get on
with carrying out his big decisions.
He almost never wrote things down
he would gather other top Nazis together at lunch or for
late evening chats and they would have to listen then go
away and try to carry out his wished as best they could.
Hitler did not work hard
he got up late (10am), had a long lunch, some afternoon
appointments and then watched films in the evening.
Hitler rarely stayed in one place for long
he moved between his Reichschancellory in Berlin and
his house on BERGHOF in Bavaria.
Favouritism
Access to the Fuhrer was the key to power
Divining Hitlers Will?
Consolidate regime
Rearmament
National Revival
Foreign Affairs
Volksgemeinschaft
Lebensraum
Racial Purity
Self-sufficiency



Write a paragraph
outlining the Fuhrers will
for each of these priorities
Hitlers Totalitarian Contradictions
Keeping the Reichstag
Sign Laws as per the Enabling Act
Renew the Enabling Act every Four Years
Huge Advertising and Election Campaigns
Use of Plebiscites
Courting of Foreign Correspondents
Guns and Butter
Darres Fat Climbdown

If Hitler and the Nazis were
so in control of Germany,
explain why they bothered
with any of these
Hitlers Diplomatic Revolution
Plan something Audacious
Eg Break a Treaty of Versailles Condition
Ignore cautious traditional naysayers
Maintain Absolute Secrecy until everything is ready
Present the Fait Accompli
In Reichstag for added legitimacy
Propaganda offensive
Present Germany as the wronged nation
Hold a Plebiscite to Confirm Triumph
Case Studies
Re-introduction of Conscription
Saar
Rhineland

Dr Hans Heinrich Lammers
1879 - 1962
Chief of Reich Chancellery
1933 1945
National Conservative Civil Servant
DNVP to 1932
Nazi from 1932
Hitlers Legal Adviser
Controlled access to Hitler
Could promote or Kill any proposals
All draft legislation had to go through Lammers
De Facto leader for months at a time
Rudolph Hess
1894 - 1987
Sycophantic and Loyal
Edited Mein Kampf
Deputy Leader of Nazi Party
Minister without Portfolio
Deputy Fuhrer from 1933
Third behind Goring from 1939
Overloaded with responsibilities
Became meaningless
Treated with suspicion
Flew to Britain in 1941
Heinrich Himmler
1900 - 1945
Head of SS 1929
Head of Political Police 1933
Head of Prussian Gestapo 1934
Head of Police 1936
Set up Dachau 1933
Huge influence with Hitler
Pandered to racial purity prejudices
Loyal, brutal and ambitious
Terrorised Opponents and Allies alike
Built SS into a huge State within a State

Himmler Speech to SS Officers, 1943
"Our principle must be absolute for the SS
man: we must be honest, decent, loyal, and
comradely to members of our own blood and to
no-one else. What happens to the Russians,
what happens to the Czechs, is a matter of utter
indifference to me. Such good blood of our own
kind as there may be among the nations we
shall acquire for ourselves, if necessary by
taking away the children and bringing them up
among us. Whether the other people live in
comfort or perish of hunger interests me only
in so far as we need them as slaves for our
culture. Whether or not 10,000 Russian women
collapse from exhaustion while digging a
trench interests me only in so far as the tank
ditch is completed for Germany."
Hermann Goering
1893 - 1945
Prussian Prime-Minister and Minister of Interior
Head of Luftwaffe
Ostentatious and Corrupt
Head of Four Year Plan 1936
Re-armament
Autarky
Cuts across existing ministries
Economic, foreign exchange, labour, raw materials, prices,
Competed with Hess, Himmler & Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels
1897 - 1945
Minister of Enlightenment & Propaganda
If you tell a lie, tell a big one
Experimental
Colour film
Parades
Womaniser
Chastised by Hitler for bringing Nazis into disrepute
Many Rivals and enemies within Nazi Party
Poison dwarf
Loss of some influence once Nazis achieved power
Hence anti-Jewish campaigns
Krystalnacht 1938


Reinhard Heydrich
1904 - 1942
Head of SD
SS Security Service
Intelligence and counter-intelligence
Competed with Military Intelligence
Himmlers Second in Command
Blonde Aryan
However, doubts over Jewish ancestry
Used by rivals to undermine him
Virulently anti-semitic
Chaired Wannasee conference
Einsatzgruppen Commander 1939
Assassinated 1942 in Czechoslovakia
Martin Bormann
1900 1945?
Hesss Deputy
In charge of Nazi Finances and
Administration
Behind the scenes
Frequently close to Hitler
Replaced Hess when Hess went AWOL
Hitlers Secretary in 1943
Capable of preventing Himmler, Goebbels
and Goering from seeing Hitler
Dr Fritz Todt
1891 - 1942
Civil Engineer to SS Colonel 1931
Inspector General of German Roads and Highway
System 1933
Grew it into Ministry of Construction
Todt Organisation
All Transport
Autobahns
Military Fortifications
Seigfried Line
Forced Labour Camps
Minister of Armaments and War Production 1940
Became Pessimistic with War with Russia
Declining confidence of Hitler
Frustrated at equipment inconsistencies and poor
planning
Killed in Air Crash 1942

Albert Speer
1905 - 1981
Hitlers Architect
Hitler an architectural enthusiast
Designs for Berlin and for Nuremburg
Speer promoted into inner circle
Minister for Armaments and War
Production, 1942
Responsible for remarkable increase in war
production despite round the clock bombing and
all out war
Used Hitlers confidence in ministerial bickerings

Robert Ley
1890 - 1945
Nazi Party Chief of Organisation 1932
Succeeded Strasser
Headed DAF on break up of Trade Unions
Frustrated at having power of DAF pulled
from under him
Hitler more interested in Re-armament and
production levels
Conditions and pay whittled away
The Reich Drunkard
Loud, coarse and alcoholic
Wilhelm Frick
1877 - 1946

Reich Minister of the Interior
Responsible for Racial Laws
Advocated Administrative Reform and Clarification
Ignored by Hitler
Lost power to Himmlers Police Department
Officially replaced by Himmler in 1943
Became Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and
Moravia
Everything which is useful for the nation is
lawful; everything which harms it is unlawful
Joachim von Ribbentrop
1893 - 1946
Wealthy wine exporter
Purchased von from a relative
Late Nazi - joined in 1932
Lent his Berlin home to Hitler in 1933
Incompetent and Vain
Special Plenipotentiary to Britain
Infuriated career diplomats
To break Stresa Front
Naval 35% deal
Ambassador to Britain in 1936
Foreign Minister 1938
Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939
Shocked the World
Influence
Bernard Rust
1883 - 1945
Dismissed as teacher 1930 for molesting a
student
Reich Minister of Science, Education and
Popular Culture 1934
Purged educational establishments of
undesirable teachers
Made Nazi party membership compulsory for
teachers
Extensive redesign of curriculum to conform
with Nazi volksgemeinschaft
Deeply loyal to Hitler
Hjalmer Schacht
1877 - 1970
Hitlers Banker
Respected Nationalist Economist
President of Reichsbank
Minister for Economic Affairs
Rehabilitated Nazi Economics
Mefo Bills p 216
Allowed re-armament to be undertaken
Not an Anti-Semite
Jews an important economic sector!
Resigned in 1937 when full war preparation was
undertaken
Implicated in Hitler assassination plot 1944
Ends war in concentration camp
Richard Darre
1895 - 1953
Reichsminister of Food and Agriculture
Friend of Himmler
Idealised Peasant
Instrumental in turning Nazis from an Urban to a Rural
party
Blood and Soil
Difficulties supplying food
World Wide Depression
Markets cut off
Guns and Butter problem
Brought Hitler problems not solutions
Relieved of position 1942

Debate Topic
Hitler was an effective Dictator!
Open For (1)
Open Against (2)
Rebuttal For (3)
Rebuttal Against (4)
Cross Examination For (5)
Cross Examination Against (6)
Conclusion For (7)
Conclusion Against (8)

Nazi Government
Nominally maintained Weimar Ministerial
System
Cabinet meetings held but declining p195
Hitler disliked collegial government
Discouraged meetings between ministers
Ministries re-organised
All Ministers Nazis by 1937
Conservatives eased out
Access to Hitler essential
Lammers Head of Chancellery
Hess Head of Nazi Party
Force of Character essential to promote
own Ministery
The Radicalisation of Nazism
Consolidation needs to be completed
Hindenburg
Weimar Institutional Restraints Removed
Competitive Government
No Collective Responsibility
Favouritism Rewarded
Radical Proposals more likely to be noticed by Hitler
Hitlers Rising Popularity
Foreign Affairs
Takes Credit, avoids blame
Nazi Hubris
Believe own propaganda and infallibility
Believe Plebiscite results
Intimidation
SS, Gestapo
Lack of Concerted Opposition
Internally and externally
The Regimes External Critics
Group Grievances Advantages
In Opposing
Nazis
Disadvantages
In Opposing
Nazis
Jews
Sopade
Churches
Youth Groups
Foreign
Governments
The Regimes Internal Obstructionists
Were there any brakes on Nazi Radicalisation?
Group Grievances Advantages
to Slowing
Nazis
Disadvantages
to Slowing
Nazis
Some Army
High
Command
Some Career
Diplomats
Some Civil
Servants
Traditional
elite